Research Around the World

This week, I reviewed the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) website (http://wwweecera.org) and answered the following questions:

·       What are some of the current international research topics?  Some of the most recent research topics include information on professionalism, education policy, enhancing peer interactions through guided play, and gender differences in language.

·       What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?  One of the insights that I gained from exploring this website is that other countries have the same issues/questions that we in the United States have.  We all want our children to develop well in all domains; there is a focus on how children interact with their peers; there is value and emphasis on family involvement; and there are ongoing debates about policies pertaining to the education and general care of children. 

·       What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?  As far as noteworthy information on this website, I really was not able to find much information immediately.  There were links to journals, but once I explored those links, I did not find the actual articles when clicking on the link provided on the websites, just summaries of the information within the articles, references and citations.

Providing the best care to all children seems to be a top priority in countries all around the world.  The questions and concerns that I have often about the development of children are not unique to the United States.  Hopefully, one day there will be a central website where all countries can share what works for them and what does not, and sound advice can be shared!

If I Could Conduct Research on Anything...

If I could conduct research on any topic in the early childhood field, I would choose to look at the ways children are influenced by positive guidance techniques (such as Conscious Discipline) over the course of their schooling, from Kindergarten to high school graduation.  The organization that I work for requires each individual who works with children to be trained on positive guidance when they start and each year after for the duration of their careers.  I personally have seen changes in children who went from being physically aggressive to recognizing when to walk away from an activity and do breathing exercises to calm himself (a preschooler).  One of the main reasons I would conduct this research is because I see children having difficulty managing their emotions and certain positive guidance techniques teach children coping strategies and also encourage them to express what it is that they are feeling.  I would be especially interested in finding out how these techniques affect children who are living in poverty.

I believe that the positive contributions might be an increase in students seeking professional help when they need it.  Right now, young children are expressing themselves in ways that are harmful to themselves and sometimes others.  They need to realize that there are positive to express themselves.  I have listed two links that sparked my interest in this topic.

Related links:

From Gang Leader to Graduate:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJGcqcJckA

Every Kid Needs a Champion:  https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion

Proposed Research Topic

The research topic that I chose to reflect on explores mental health in children and healthy, non-medicinal treatments.  I chose this topic because I work with/train adult who work directly with children (indirectly myself) and we all have noticed an increase in some of the issue that they face on a regular basis.  During the first week of class, I was presented with a situation where a child had been cutting herself.  One of the teachers brought it to our attention and we had to deal addressing it with her, letting her know we would have to speak with her mom and helping her realize that we were not betraying her trust, but doing everything that we could to insure her safety.  Though I have not had to deal with this is the past, I see an increase in the number of issues that the staff and I deal with that fall under the category of mental health so I want to do my part to help!

Admittedly, the resources over the past couple of weeks have been very helpful.  Constructing the chart helped me to slow down and stop and really think about what certain terms mean vs. me going through and just reading the material and looking over something helpful - hidden gems in plain sight!  I now feel like I can lean forward a little bit and be more organized in how I state my topic and conduct the research.  However, this is a broad topic.  I am open to any suggestions and advice!

Here are a couple of websites I have  explored so far:

https://www.samhsa.gov/children

http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/samh/mentalhealth/work.shtml

Final Reflection

·       Reading about the lives of children all over the world has been insightful.  Exploring other resources helped me realize how different things are in other parts of the world and at the same time, how there are many similarities.  During the past few weeks:

o   Reading about the international early childhood field helped me realize that in United States, we are fortunate to have access to the resources, especially educational resources, that we do.  It also makes me realize that we do not always fully use the resources that we have.

o   Poverty affects children negatively, regardless of where they live. 

o   Children are resilient beings.  They learn and grow through healthy and meaningful interactions.  When parents collaborate with teachers, the outcome is the best possible care of children.  However, when they are presented with stressful events, they need just as much support to ensure that they recover.

·         
      Trends vary from region to region.  While some areas focus on the true importance of educating children at a young age, other areas must focus on educating families to provide the best care for children or are just working to alleviate poverty by providing jobs. 

      Moving forward, one goal that I have for the field related to international awareness of issue and trends is that I encourage my cohorts in the United States find a way to share the resources that we have with our cohorts around the world.  We are so fortunate in this country and sharing information can be done with a few clicks.  Blogging is a perfect way to share these resources.

Neugebauer, R. (2007). Early childhood trends around the world. Exchange, (175), 58-63.

Excellence and Equity of Care

·       What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?

One of the issues that I constantly discuss with my peers is their need to continue their education.  Staff members who have no experience working with children are required to complete child development modules, specific to the age groups that they work with.  A set of completed modules counts as 15 hours toward higher education at Ohio State University.  Or, if that individual is not interested in pursing a degree, they can apply for their CDA (or for staff members that work with school age children, the MSA).  Another issue we discuss is the need for staff members to execute high-yield learning activities.  This doesn’t necessarily require higher education, but it definitely requires a certain level of enthusiasm.

·       What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?

In addition to staff members completing their modules, they also have learning opportunities through Boys and Girls Club of America and Spillett Leadership University (affiliated with BGCA).  Staff members must be trained annually on a variety of topics, from Positive Guidance /Appropriate Touch, Child Abuse and Developmentally Appropriate Practices to ServSafe Foodhandlers and CPR/First Aid to Age Appropriate Environments.

·       What are some of your professional goals?

One of my professional goals is to continue my education in order to ensure that I am current with the changing world of child development.  Another goal is to mentor staff and help them realize their value to the program so they understand how important they are.

·       What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?  One of the challenges that we face is that we work in a military community and a good amount of staff membes are military spouses.  Sometimes, they end up laving the program before they are fully developed.  I would love to have a program that places a bigger emphasis STEM concepts!

Availability, Accessibility, Affordability: Part 2

·       Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?  One of the outside links that I explored this week was the Charity Navigator website.

·       Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?  The Charity Navigator website offers detailed information about programs, other charities that perform similar work, and its financial information to name a few things.

·       Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?  The website does not offer any specific information about its efforts to end inequities in care and in the education for children and families but it’s mission is to ensure that each child has the best chance for success.  So, this is an unintended consequence of the organization’s promise.

·       What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?  The website provides information to other websites that provide similar services to the ones that they offer.  Additionally, there are many websites are dedicated to improving the overall quality of life for children and families.

Charity Navigator.  Retreived from

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4438#mission

Mental Health in Children

Looking over the Developing Child website, I was particularly interested in reading about the state of mental health in children in this generation.  In my career, I have heard stories about children who have made alarming comments, whose parents deal with mental health issues and the children exhibit signs of having mental health issues as well, and children who could very well have mental health issues if some of the issues that plague them are not dealt with.  Also, with so much talk regarding mental health, around the world I wanted to explore what can be done at an early age to help those who may be affected by mental health.

1.     Significant mental health problems can and do occur in young children.  Children have anxiety (especially depending on their home life or other factors that can induce anxiety), ADHD, and neurological disorders and may respond to emotional experiences and traumatic events in differing ways.  Speaking with colleagues, I was told of a young child in the program whose mother is in the process of terminating her parental rights, yet she still sees him at least twice a week.  My colleagues voiced concerns over his behavior on any given day, but especially on those days that he sees his mother – he comes in to the center, leaves to see his mother and once he returns, they have numerous problems with him and have had to resort to a one-to-one ratio (highly uncommon and expensive for a program that specializes in group care).

2.     Genetics and experience play a major role in mental health.  The experiences that we have deeply affect our lives.  Events that cause toxic stress may increase mental health problems either immediately or in years to come.

3.     Early intervention can help individuals who are exposed to traumatic events significantly.  Although later intervention can be helpful, early intervention can help combat problems in self-regulation, emotional adaptability, relating to others and self-understanding.

Additional information that I have learned from the Save the Children Federation website is that they work tirelessly to end child marriage.  Child marriage occurs often in low and lower-middle income countries.  If affects children under the age of 18 and mostly affects girls.  As of now, there are not many investments to end the practice but the rate of child marriage is declining over time.  The statistics that stood out most to me were:

·      Child marriage is harmful (mostly to young girls)

·      There are efforts in place to completely eradicate child marriage by the end of 2030

·      Close to 100 million girls all over the glob are not legally protected against child marriage

·      While there are laws in place against child marriage, they are not sufficient enough to end the practice.

References

Early childhood mental health.  Center on the Developing Child.  Harvard University. 

Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/deep-dives/mental-health/

Wodon, Q., Tavares, P., Fiala, O., Le Nestour, A., Wise, L. (2017). Ending child

marriage:  Child marriage laws and their limitations.  Save the Children.  Retrieved from https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/advocacy/ending-child-marriage.pdf